The Intricacies of Molecular Configurations
by SnapeDoll
Summary: Hijinks are being raised in Snape's potions class. Who's the one responsible, and what will Snape end up doing once the culprit is caught?


((AN: This is another RP story I had come up with on a whim. I may end up continuing on with it, just for the potential giggle factor. J Snape's assistant is an OC.))

_The Intricacies of Molecular Configurations_

It was halfway through the two hour long potions period for the seventh years. Most of the students had progressed at the usual progress for the current potion being brewed, with the exception of a few bumblers who would be extraordinarily lucky not to leave class today with an interminably long homework assignment. In other words, homework would definitely be given. There was no reason for the mental deficients in his class to hold back those who were doing tolerably well. Especially when it came to a class that he was teaching.

Snape gets up from behind his desk slowly, his eyes seeking out those who seemed to be struggling with the instructions he had given not an hour before. When he moves around his desk, he can see his assistant out of the corner of his eye, diligently working on grading some of the pre-lab work he had assigned that the students had turned in as they filed in for class. No worries there, at least not when it came to the subject of potions. Leaving behind all thought of his assistant, he instead begins examining each student again, his narrowed eyes searching for any indication of distress. Students made it so easy when it came to rooting out those who hadn't paid proper attention to the instructions given at the start of class. When not prepared, they inevitably would start late in beginning the assignment in class, would cut their eyes to other students to see if they were doing things right and some would even try and pull asinine stunts like making unnecessary trips to the storage cabinets in order to catch glimpses of where everyone else in the room had progressed to in their work.

Professor Snape slowly begins walking in between the potions stations, looking into the cauldrons he passes by to see where everyone had currently progressed to. In a short while, they would all have to perform a litmus test, using a simple solution that they had all amazingly managed to mix relatively correctly during their last potions class. He'd had to make a few minor adjustments to two of the submitted litmus vials, but had grudgingly admitted to himself that overall they had been slightly above mediocre.

Pausing by the potion station that Draco was currently at, Snape made yet another mental note of the faint scent of firewhiskey surrounding the boy. He glances at the four Slytherins in the nearby vicinity, then looks back at Draco's cauldron. What he sees isn't terribly bad, but neither is it terribly good. Snape picks up a glass stirring rod, glancing over at Potter who was two rows away. He smirks in his direction, and when he speaks he makes sure his voice can be heard.

"I see you've already progressed past the point of _correctly_ adding the scales of the coelocanthe, Draco. Very good. It is unfortunate that a few of your apparently mentally challenged classmates cannot keep up with your skill. Potter, in particular, would do well to take a lesson from you. I think we all know that the prancing lion over there is more interested in decorating things, than he is in any real sort of work."

Again looking over at Harry, Snape raises an eyebrow, as if daring the young Gryffindor to say anything. He smirks again, then turns to Theodore Nott, whose own station was a few steps away. He is about to use the glass stirring rod to take a small drop of Nott's potion for closer examination when he hears his the voice of his assistant, Ms. Wallace.

"Professor... I think you should come look at this."

He turns to look at Crymson who was now standing a few paces away. Frowning at this interruption, Snape puts the glass rod down. He walks over to where his assistant was, and takes the piece of parchment that was somebody's pre-lab assignment... Or was it?  
His eyes quickly scan the page, narrowing as they reach the middle. Snape looks up, seeing that all of the students were now looking at him.

Snape holds the parchment out so that they can all see what is on it. On the first half of the page is what appears to be the scribbled answers to the set of pre-lab questions, but there was no name on it. A lot of cross outs, and blotches of ink showed, as if this were merely a rough draft of the homework assignment and not the one to be turned in as the final product. However, halfway down the page, was an obvious artistic rendering of Snape himself, doing something rather rude to niffler. A complicated set of chemical notations were underneath, and if one were observant, these can be seen to spell out, "SiPS ASS".

Glowering at the class, Snape crumples the paper slightly in his fist and lowers it to his side. He takes a step forward, fury etched into the folds of his face. When he speaks, his voice is low and cold. Each word broken up, pinpointed with a drop of venom.

"One of you has made a grave error in judgment. Immaturity and idiocy I expect out of you."

Looking directly at the station where Harry and Ron stood, Professor Snape's voice lowers even further.

"Outright vulgarity and obscenity is something that will be warranting a different punishment entirely.  
If you think you have seen me at my worst, you have most definitely made a fatal error."

Snapping his eyes away from Harry to glare around the room once more, he then reaches into his pocket and takes out his wand. Uttering a nonverbal charm, he places the tip of his wand on the parchment he still held in his hand. A glimmer of light, and a trail of ink from one of the larger blotches on the paper begins to form into words.  
He narrows his eyes at this, then looks up at the class, his eyes locking onto those of one particular student.


End file.
